Effects of ethanol on brain sialic acid and 2-deoxyribose in young rats.

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Abstract
The effects on levels of sialic acid (SA) and 2-deoxyribose (DR) of 2, 4 and 6 wk of exposure to 7% (vol/vol) ethanol in a nutritionally adequate liquid diet were examined in brain regions (forebrain, midbrain, medulla and cerebellum) of 36 weanling Wistar rats. Mean daily ethanol intake was 19.1 g/kg body wt. Brain and body weight increased with time, with no significant difference between the pair-fed controls and ethanol-treated animals. In controls, SA and DR levels increased with age, except in the medulla; the SA levels were highest in the forebrain and lowest in the medulla, and the DR levels were 4 times higher in the cerebellum than anywhere else. Brains from ethanol-fed rats, even from those on the diet for only 2 wk, contained less SA and DR than did the controls. In the forebrain these decreases were evident at 6 wk only. The effect of ethanol was clear, although with the exception of medullary SA, the absolute SA and DR levels were increasing with time. In general, the magnitude of the ethanol effect, especially on DR, grew with time, and the percentage of DR change was conspicuously greater in the cerebellum than in other areas. Adaptation to ethanol is apparently less effective in young than in adult rats.